Elastic-fluid engine.



S. Z. DE FERRANTI.

ELASTIC FLUID ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.9,1005.

1,132,456. Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

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ELASTIC FLUID ENGINE.

APPLIUATION TILED MAP, 9 1005 1,1 32,456. Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

4 SHEETS FJHEET 2.

62662315" Jammm Zia r ii "razzzz CJ? QWJLQM/ S. Z. DE PERRANTI.

ELASTIC FLUID ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.9,1905,

Patented Mar. 16, 1915 4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

S. Z. DE FERRANTI. ELASTIC FLUID ENGlNB APPLIGATION FILED MAR. 9. 190:3 1,1 32,456, Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

4 SHEETS SHLET 4 2/ muzww Ji M SEBASTIAN ZIANI DE FERRANTI, OF HAMPSTEAD, LONDON, ENGLAND.

ELASTIC-FLUID ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

(lflginal application filed Gctober 31, 1903, Serial No. 179,407. Divided and this application filed March 9, 1995. 8eria1No.2/49,253.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SEBASTIAN ZIANI on FERRANTI a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at 31 Lyndhurst road, Hampstead, London, N. W.,' England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elastic-Fluid Engines, of which the following is a specification.

' render the expansion on the whole substantially isothermal. Beneficial results-however, may be obtained by omitting the initial superheater or by reheating between stages to a less degree. Nhatever the pre cis'e cycle adopted, the heating medium from which a proportion of the heat has been abstracted for reheating purposes necessarily retains considerable residual heat and the efl'icient utilisation of this residuum of heat in the thermal. cycle forms a main feature of the present invention.

With the primary object of improving the thermal efficiency of multi-stage elastic fluid engines. the invention thus consists in the combinations of elements hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring th the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 shows the general arrangement in elevation of a complete installation of plant having fire-heated superheaters and reheaters. Figs. 2, 3 and 4: bein corresponding sections on the line X X, @{Y and Z Z respectively of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 shows a modification of the arrangement of Fig. 1 and Fig. 6 an arrangement adapted to the case of a Lancashire or other flue boiler. Fig. 7 shows another general arrangement in which superheated steam is employed in we reheaters; Fig. 8 is a detail view shg mg an alternative arrangement of the reheater coils; Fig. 9 is a modification of the arrangement of the re-heaters of Fig. 7, while Figs. 10 and 11 show diagrammatically other methods of reheating by means of superheated steam.

I will describe my invention as applied to one modification in what I consider its best form, viz., with all the elements combined together in one machine so as to ob tain the highest economy. I will assume the turbine is to use steam as the medium of expansion and'that it is desired to employ a compound turbine of the impact type, although it will be seen that any condensable elastic fluid may be used and that a compound turbine of any of the other well known types may be employed. I therefore construct (Figs. 1 to l) a compound or multiple stage impact steam turbine a in a well known manner but I separate each stage in such a Way that I can pass the steam exhausting from the first stage through a reheater delivering into the inlet of the second stage and from its exhaust to a second re-hcater and so on, re-heating after each stage expansion to the final exhaust. I arrange the turbine a, on a horizontal shaft and provide the re-heaters below the turbine body. These re-heaters, b'c are tube elements situated in' a combustion flue, d, which also contains the boiler, e f, superheater, h z, and water heater is, l, elements. 7

In connection with the exhaust passage, m, of the turbine, I arrange a coil regenerator, n, so as to extract the heat from the exhaust which comes from the turbine at a temperature approaching the maximum temperature of the cycle; I arrange the water supply to the inlet of this reenerator to come from the condenser u or mm the hot well by way of the pipe 0, and I connect the regenerator outlet p which is nearest to the turbine, preferably to the water heater element, by way of the pipe 1' so that the heat of the turbine exhaust is in part restored to the working fluid.

I find it convenient to employ boiler, e f

and superheater elements It 2' of a similar character. which may take the form of upper and lower drums, joined by a l rge number of nearly vertical tubes, whic traverse the flue d, and therefore bafile the combust-ion gases. The boiler, superheater, reheater and water heaterelements are all arranged in the flue, d, in such a way as to obtain the best extraction of heat from the gases of combustion, which are produced and burned from one end of the furnace. I may also employ coal-dust as the furnace combustible.

Beneath or around the furnace flue, carrying the boiler, superheater, reheater and water heater elements, I prefer to construct flues to carry the products of combustion to the chimney a and through these waste gas flues I carry iron air ducts t, which convey the air supply to the furnace in a direction preferably counter to the flow of the waste gases, thus forming an air regenerator and obtaining hot air for the fuel combustion.

According to a modification as shown in Fig. 5 the length of piping between the turbine and re-heaters is reduced to a minimum, the regenerator being removed from the position shown in Fig. 1 and placed beyond the flue heated elements. Fig. 5 also shows another form of reheater consisting in one or more heaters from which tubes de pend.

Fig. Gshows an arrangement of parts in which a Lancashire or other flue boiler is used instead of the water tube boilers of Fig. 1.

The same letters are used in'the last two figures as in Fig. 1 to denote similar parts.

According to another modification shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9 instead of direct fire heating of the reheaters, I arrange them to be heated indirectly by superheated steam. Thus in Fig. 7. the steam generator-is shown at 2. rovided with steam drums 3, from which the steam is led through the superheatcr 4, in the uptake. After superheating, the steam divides into two parts one part going direct to the turbine. 5, byway of the pipe 6, and the other part pa. ing to the reheaters 7, by way of the pip. 8. In the example shown the turbine is provided with five reheaters, the superheated steam from the pipe 8. passing through them in parallel. A pump 9, is provided to return the condensed steam issuing through the pipe .25, from the rc-heaters to the boiler through the pipe, 10, feed water heater 1'36 and pipe 27. The arrangement I prefer in the reheaters is to conduct the steam from the turbine after the first stage of expansion through the pipe 11. to the bottom of the first ire-heater and then upward in a direction counter to that of the superheated steam through the coil 12, and back to the turbine. This action is repeated after each stage of expansion in the turbine, the steam finally passing through the exhaust pipe, 13. to the rcgen-. erator, 14. It will be understood that asthe figure is merely diagrammatic. the proportions of reheatcr coils. and the other pa rt nre'not those which would be adopted in practice.

An alternative arrangement of the reheater coils is shown in Fig. 8, steam from the turbine being led to the bottom of the reheater through the pipe 15, whence it returns through the pipe 16, meanwhile traveling in an opposite direction to that of the superheated steam which enters the top of the reheater through the pipe 17, and flows through the coil 18. to its outlet after which its path back to the boiler is as before.

Referring again to Fig. 7, the steam from the turbine passes through the regenerate! to the condenser 19. which may be of the jet condensing type, supplied with cooling water through the'pipc '20, and provided with an air pump :21. Another pump. 22. which may if convenient, be worked of? the air pump, 21., seryes to pass a part of the outflow from the condenser through the regenerator coils. 28. whence it passes on and joins the condensed steam from the reheaters. The combined steam may then be pumped through the cconomizer or feed water heater. 2G, placed in the uptake and returned to the boiler, thus completing the cycle.

In Fig. 8. is shown another arrangement of the reheaters; the coils 12. through which the steam from the turbine passes, are in this case arranged in one largercompartmcnt. 2i. superheated steam entering through the pipe. 8. as before and leaving after condensation, by the pipe. '23. after which its course is as described above.

Instead of dividing the su wrhcated steam into two parts accordingto the methods of Figs. 7 and 9 I may use the following system. steam from the generator 2. (see Fig. 10) is led through the pipe. 29. to the superheater 30: after being superheated in the coils 31. it passes through the pipe 3). direct to the rc-heaters 33. which are in this case. preferably of the type shown in Fig. 8. The steam then returns through the pipe 34, to the superheater, when it is re-superheated by passing through the ceils 35. 36.

after which it goes direct to the turbine byway of th e pipe 37.

In Fig. 11, I have shown yet another method of conducting the superheated steam through the re-heatcrs. Steam from the generator .2. passes as befo're. through the pipe 29. to the coils 31. of the superheater 30: it then passes through the pipe 38, to the iebcatcrs 39. These are of the same general type as those shown in Fig. 8. ex cept that the coilsare divided into upper and lower sets. The steam after passing throughjthe upper coils. 40, 40. of the relieaterst'rctiirns through thepipe l1, to the coils 35. 36. of the supcrheater and after ,issumg thence divides into two parts. the tone part passing through the pipe. 42, to the turbine and the other part by way of the pipe 43, through the lower coils 44, 44, of the reheaters, the water of condensation being returned by the pump, 45, to the generator, either directly through the pipe, 46, or in directly through a feed water heater such as is shown at 26, Fig. 7.

It will be seen that by means of the reheaters provided at each stage of expansion, the temperature of the turbine is maintained practically uniform from end to end, and the exhaust steam will pass from the turbine practically at the temperature at which it at each stage passes to the reheater, the larger the number of stages employed the nearer being the approach to isothermal ex? pansion. The exhaust steam then delivers through a passage, in which is situated the regenerator for the extraction of its heat, and then into the condenser, which is preferably a jet or ejector condenser employing practically air freed water. The residual heat in the flue gases is likewise efiiciently abstracted. oithough I have used the term isothermal expansion in setting forth my invention I am, nevertheless aware that the expansion through each stage is actually closely adiabatic. The effect of the re-heaters taken in conjunction with the adiabatic expansion, is however, to cause the resultant expansion line to cross and recross an isothermal line drawn at about the mean temperature of the re-heats, said expansion line thus approximating to such an isothermal line more or less closely according to the number of reboots and it is in this sense that I wish the words isothermal expansion to be construed, both in the body of the specification and in the following claims.

It will be seen that many modifications can be made in the details of the cycles employed without departing from the essence of my invention, and in. order to explain more fullytlie sense in which I use the term isothermal expansion" reference is made to Figs. 21 to 24 of this specification, though I wish. it to be clear that the cycles, temperatures and other details shown in these passes in series, means for generatin hot gases of combustion, flue means for sai hot gases, reheater elements fol said working fluid operatively disposed in said flue means, together with superheating elements situated in said flue means in advance, and water heating elements situated in the rear of said reheating elements in reiation to the flow of said ases, substantially as described,

2. n combination a plurality of turbine chambers through which working fluid passes in series, means for generating hot gases of combustion, flue means for said. hot gases, reheater elements for said working uid operatively disposed in said flue means,

and abstracting a certain roportion off the heat in the flue gases, toge erwith airheating means for abstracting a residuum of heat from said gases, substantially as described.

3. In combination a plurality of turbine chambers through which working fluid passes in series, means for generating hot gases of combustion, flue means for said hot gases, together with means for fractienaliy imparting heat to the feed water by abstract ing heat from the exhaust from said tarbine chambers, and aiso from the hot gases in said flue means, subr'stantialiy as described. t

' 4. In combination a plurality of turbine chambers through which working fluid passes in series, means for generating hot gases of combustion, flue means for said hot gases, reheater elements for said working fluid operatively disposed in said flue means, superheating elements situated in said flue means in advance, and boiler elements, feed water heating elements and air heating ele ments situated in the rear of said reheating elements in relation to the flow of the hot gases in said flue means, substantially as described.

5. In combination a plurality of turbine chambers through which working iiuiri passes in series, a furnace fine, reboater r" ments for said working fluid operaiivri r a posed within said tine, a shimmer :"ii a gether with duct means in said chimney line through which air to said furnace is led, if

substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto my hand in the presence of the undersigned witnesses.

SEBASTIAN ZIANI Bit i iiiiittfifi.

Witnesses:

ALBERT E. Parana, FRANCIS J. Brennan,

ti ii 

